June 2019 – UPSC CSE Demystified!

My Journey- KEEP IT SIMPLE & MAKE IT BIG- Lakshay Kumar Chowdhury- AIR 378

Journey of UPSC – CSE

Hello everyone,

I am Lakshay Kumar Chowdhury, (Rank 378, CSE-2018). I am writing this blog to guide people/aspirants who might have the talent but are not able to utilise it effectively for achieving the desired result. The purpose of this blog is to help the aspirants and to wipe out the mysteries/theories around the Civil Services Examination.

A brief background of my life will help you comprehend my journey in a better way. I was born and brought up in Delhi. I graduated from Sri Venkateswara College, DU with a B.Com (Honours) degree in 2014. Further, I completed my post-graduation (M.Com) from SRCC, DU in 2016.

Personal Tip: Be brutally honest with yourself and others, so that there are no misconceptions about anything. It will help you find the right direction and will ensure success. Continue reading “My Journey- KEEP IT SIMPLE & MAKE IT BIG- Lakshay Kumar Chowdhury- AIR 378”

Law Optional Demystified- A Law Graduate’s Perspective, Sparsh Gupta, Rank 562, CSE 2018

Hello everyone, I am Sparsh Gupta, rank 562, CSE 2018 and I am visually impaired, have very low vision in my right eye. I will write about my journey in another post, but, right now, let us start with the strategy for Law optional as not much guidance is available for the same.
This post has been pending for a while. Due to my busy schedule, I could not pen it down earlier. Based on a lot of personal requests, as promised, here is the law optional strategy which I followed and was able to crack the coveted exam by arduously following this strategy. Continue reading “Law Optional Demystified- A Law Graduate’s Perspective, Sparsh Gupta, Rank 562, CSE 2018”

Overcoming depression and feeling of lost out during CSE preparation: Sumit Kumar Rai (AIR 54, CSE 2018)

Hello friends,

I hope your mains preparation is going good. I am writing this post to help you out if you ever found yourself in a depressed situation or feeling completely lost out in this long journey. Continue reading “Overcoming depression and feeling of lost out during CSE preparation: Sumit Kumar Rai (AIR 54, CSE 2018)”

PSIR Strategy: “An OPTIONAL Expedition from 240 to 313” – Trupti Dhodmise (AIR 16, UPSC CSE 2018)

Hello everyone..!!

Many aspirants have been asking me about my PSIR Strategy. I could score well i.e. 313/500 (169+144) in my optional which has played a crucial role to secure a good rank. I had to work hard to raise my score from 240(2016) to 313(2018). You may find this quite surprising..!! But yes, it happened . Continue reading “PSIR Strategy: “An OPTIONAL Expedition from 240 to 313” – Trupti Dhodmise (AIR 16, UPSC CSE 2018)”

Utility of Mains Test Series – A first attempter perspective by Kanishak Kataria (Rank 1)

Hello everyone!

Before I deep dive into this article, I would just like to clarify that it is neither a rant against any particular test series nor an attempt to undermine the feedback I had received through them. I have benefitted a lot from them. Here, I am just trying to document my experience with test series and the ebbs and flows of emotions I had during my Mains preparation.

Since it was my 1st attempt and I was doing self-study in Jaipur, there was a lack of sustained guidance and I did feel a little lost sometimes in between. My rank and GS marks do not reveal the uncertainties and fears I had. I feel aspirants, especially first-timers, need to be a little cautious in their evaluations and dependency on test series. Too much attachment to their feedbacks might affect their self-belief and confidence which I feel is very critical to excel in this examination – as UPSC does test your emotions along with your skills and intelligence.

Law Optional Strategy by Shubham Gupta (AIR 6)

This post is regarding the Strategy for LAW as an Optional subject in the UPSC Civil Service Examination. I have been fortunate to score reasonably good marks in this optional subject both times I have written the Mains exam. Just to give the readers some perspective of what is considered reasonably good for this paper, I scored 306 (Paper I: 125, Paper II: 181) in UPSC CSE 2016 and a similar score 304 (Paper I: 149, Paper II: 155) in UPSC CSE 2018 which is when I secured AIR 6.

In this post, I will be dealing with two aspects of the paper:

How should one decide whether to choose Law as an optional paper?
The paper-wise strategy for Law.

So, let’s begin with aspect 1!

Allow me to start by giving a brief background about myself. I studied Commerce (with Economics) in Class XI and XII. In college, I pursued B.A. (Hons.) Economics from Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, University of Delhi (2012-15). This was followed by enrolling myself into a M.A. Economics course in Delhi School of Economics (2015-17) (Unfortunately, I could not finish my Masters course). My main background has been in the subject of Economics.

I made the choice for Law as the Optional subject for me in the year 2015, despite the fact that I had never studied Law before that in any form whatsoever. So, why did I choose Law as my optional?

Continue reading “Law Optional Strategy by Shubham Gupta (AIR 6)”

Essay Strategy- Nivedita S Balaraddiyavar (AIR 303, CSE 2018)

Hello guys,

I am sharing below article on behalf of Nivedita S Balaraddiyavar (AIR 303). She has got one of the highest marks in essay this year (148).

This is what the UPSC expects in an essay. Continue reading “Essay Strategy- Nivedita S Balaraddiyavar (AIR 303, CSE 2018)”

Mains Test Series Copies and Some Mains specific notes – Shreyans Kumat (AIR 4)

Hi everyone,

Prelims and Mains have many similarities in terms of the syllabus. Sources for overlapping portions remained the same for me. I have already mentioned them in Prelims approach. But there are few areas which are specific to Mains. In this article, I am adding those aspects of the Mains exams in GS 1 and GS 4 which are not covered in Prelims.

Given that the cost-benefit out of some of such portions is very low, I am adding my full notes. This might help you devote more time in the note making of frequently asked areas. Also, I am attaching links to my General Studies test series copies.

MY STORY: क़िस्मत vs मेहनत !

Many people are frequently contacting me for CSE preparation for themselves or their wards. All have only one demand – 1st ATTEMPT TOP RANK. Though I respect their zeal and positive bend of mind, but still I want to say “HOLD ONNNNN. Game is not so easy friend. Think twice before you move in this spiral of CSE !”

On the other hand, I get calls and messages from already struggling and yet-to-pass aspirants who share their painful stories and desperation to succeed like me. I respect them much more and wish that they actually do it someday, perhaps much better than me. But still I say, “HOLD ONNNN. You are not alone who are struggling. Look around seriously, you will find much worse struggling yet always smiling faces. Just keep going. DON’T COUNT YOUR FAILURES, MAKE YOUR FAILURES COUNT some day !”

For both of these category people, here is MY STORY. MY STORY of all wins and loses of last 6 years. Or to correct myself – my story of all loses and one win of last 6 years !

My journey : “PLAYING SAFE ON THE UPSC PITCH..!!” – TRUPTI DHODMISE (AIR 16, UPSC CSE 2018)

April 5, 2019… One of the most anxious day of my life..!! It was certain that UPSC CSE 2018 results would get declared by an evening..Yet, I could not concentrate on my work in the office that day due to nervousness. I got disappointed even results were not disclosed till 6pm.. I returned home at 6:40pm, got freshened up. I had tea with my husband Sudhakar while checking upsc website for number of times. At 7:15pm, we got that ‘most desired PDF’. Sudhakar opened it in his phone. I expected that he would use ‘search’ function to find my name. Instead, he started to look up from Rank 1. I asked him to use ‘search’ function. In the next moment he replied, “No need.. You’re AIR16.. Continue reading “My journey : “PLAYING SAFE ON THE UPSC PITCH..!!” – TRUPTI DHODMISE (AIR 16, UPSC CSE 2018)”